Prepare to “bee” inspired for Halloween with this twist on a classic cupcake that tastes great AND puts sustainable, locally sourced ingredients front and center, in this case: honey. With somewhere between 300,000 and 500,000 adopted bees atop the New York Hilton Midtown, there’s plenty of honey (approximately 300 pounds annually, to be precise) to sweeten the property’s delectable food and beverage offerings.

Part of an urban beekeeping initiative, the nearly half-a-million honeybees reside in six hives located on the hotel’s fifth-floor 16,000-square-foot rooftop. Director of culinary Peter Betz and his team tend to the bees and use the harvested honey — along with ingredients sourced from Betz’s extensive network of local vendors — to curate innovative dishes with exciting flavors and memorable flair.

Betz says, “Our honey adds a little bit of complexity. It’s incorporated all over the menu. The bees will go and pollinate Central Park and you’ll get notes of lavender and mint and those flavors come together to really make for an interesting flavor profile.”

A graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, Betz became one of only 80 influential chefs in the U.S. to be appointed to the State Department’s Diplomatic Chef Corps in 2012. Developed in partnership with the James Beard Foundation, the program includes a select network of chefs who act as food-focused statesmen and are dispatched around the world to promote American cuisine and prepare meals for foreign leaders. Throughout his career, Betz has cooked for presidents, dignitaries and celebrities but his technique and purpose remain the same regardless of who comes to the table.

“I always hope [guests] enjoy the food and that we give them something that perhaps sparks a conversation at the table. I like to highlight our rooftop honey whenever possible and what better time than Halloween with a fun-themed cupcake dessert? [The honey] gives the cupcake a unique and unexpected flavor but it also makes it very special for this property,” Betz says.

Oh, and don’t worry. If you don’t happen to have thousands of honeybees on your rooftop, you can still create a buzz all your own by using a high-quality honey from your local grocery store. All that’s left to do now is bake and enjoy!

Alison Cavatore is the assistant editor for the content marketing team at Hilton. She has written and copyedited for numerous print and digital publications in the U.S. and abroad. Born in Pittsburgh, PA, Alison has lived in Miami, Scottsdale, Holland, France, Switzerland and Canada. She currently resides in the Washington, D.C. area.